Whether you’re an avid Live user or wonder how it works from a performance perspective, CDM reader Fabio FZero has managed to express in simple terms a basic binary split (originally in comments):
Ableton Live: Draggers vs. Set-freaks
… between those who drag-and-drop on the fly in their sets, and those who configure everything in advance in a superset. To that, I’d add a third category, though I don’t necessarily advise it: the Multiple Setters, who switch between set files for each song. (It’s dangerous because of load times, particularly with samplers. I’ve recently become a Set-freak instead. Though I suppose you could argue a Multiple Setter is really a subset of Set-freaks. Okay, now I’ve complicated things again.)
Dragger or freak? Choose your side. (Yes, some of you code live in ChucK — I’m sticking with Live, thanks.)
Previously: CDM Asks: How Do You Set Up Your Ableton Live Sets for Performance / DJing?